The federal government’s decision to require a commitment to human rights in its Canada Student Job (CSJ) grants is a bold move to advance equality. It is misunderstood by religious institutions who argue it compromises freedom of religion and expression. It is misrepresented by anti-abortion groups who claim constitutional protections for their work.

The controversial attestation box that must be checked on the application requires CSJ applicants to agree that both the specific summer job and the organization’s core mandate respect Canadian human rights, including the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The attestation stresses that these respected rights include reproductive rights and equality rights.

It is an unresolved question whether institutions have Charter rights. But if they do, the attestation respects them.

Freedom of religion and equality rights operate in a delicate balance. Religious institutions that engage in discriminatory practices are still eligible to apply for the publicly funded CSJ grants. Equality rights do not prevent faith-based groups that administer CSJ grants from engaging in discriminatory practices. A Charter right to marriage equality has never forced churches to perform religious marriages of same-sex couples. Charter­-protected sex equality has not forced the Roman Catholic church to ordain female priests. A Charter right to equality or security of the person does not entitle a woman to demand the church support her abortion.

All the attestation demands is that applicants not hire students whose only function will be to work on projects that actively oppose or undermine Charter rights. A faith-based institution that wants to hire students to run faith-based summer day camps or to co-ordinate programming for a faith-based sponsored refugee family are able to apply for the grants.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in a recent town hall meeting, praised the vital social work our faith institutions provide. The attestation makes the principled distinction between supporting religious contributions to society and funding specific anti-equality work.

The CSJ grants are not open to organizations whose sole core mission is the defeat of equality rights earned by women and LGBTQ people, or the rights being actively sought now by transgender or gender-questioning Canadians. This is not discrimination on the basis of either religion or expression, for they are still allowed to carry out that anti-equality work. It should shock Canadians that they expect the government or taxpayers to fund it.

Opponents to the attestation argue that while expression and religion are expressly protected in the Charter, abortion is not, so it is not a competing constitutional right. This is incorrect.

Thirty years ago the Supreme Court struck down criminal laws that regulated abortion because they compromised a woman’s security of the person under Section 7 of the Charter. It is also evident that abortion is a sex equality issue, also protected under the Charter.

The delicate balance achieved in the CSJ grants values these rights, while supporting the social services provided by religious institutions. Expression rights are respected by allowing religious and other groups to continue to protest, lobby and advocate for changes in our laws.

American Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg famously said, with respect to rights, that one has the right to move one’s arm about, as long as it does not punch me in the nose. Our government should not fund an organization to punch the Charter or equality-supportive taxpayers in the nose.

Daphne Gilbert is an ­associate ­professor of law at the ­University of Ottawa.